Sunshine and Sea Monsters
by Pyral
Summary: A day at the beach should've been relaxing for the Knights of the Dawn. The key word there is "should've."


The sun beat down on the sand as Kendra spread out her beach towel. They had only been there for a few minutes, and Kendra already had sand in her bathing suit, but she didn't mind. A break from the chaos of eliminating last branches of the Society and recreating the shrines was welcome.

A few feet away, Vanessa had already sprawled out to tan, and Seth was sprinting down to the water. Warren was setting up the beach umbrellas and saying encouragement to Tanu, who was fiddling with the portable grill, which apparently wouldn't light. Kendra would've piped in as well, except Warren was using so many inside jokes that she could barely make out what he was saying.

This was technically a mission in itself, but among the more active Knights, the words "reconnaissance mission" had become synonymous with "weekend vacation." Stan didn't want to run the Knights into the ground by heaping too much on them, so he threw them a chance to relax whenever he had the opportunity.

Kendra sprawled out on her towel. All they had to do was check up on whatever creatures were sending out weak magical signals—most likely water salamanders, according to Vanessa—and relax. An easy day.

Over by the grill, Tanu muttered a few curses. "It won't light," he complained. "It's fueled up, but it won't spark."

"You can do it," Kendra called over. "And if it's broken, it's not a big deal. We can get burgers somewhere else."

Vanessa flipped up her sunglasses. "Last place I saw was forty minutes away. I'd recommend Tanu keeps trying with the grill. I could give it a shot, if you want."

"It's alright, Dale showed me how to get this back at the house," Tanu said. He knocked the side of it. "I'll get it at some point."

"Well, when you get it working, let us know. I'm sure we'll be starving by then," Warren laughed. "I'm gonna head out and make sure Seth doesn't poke any water salamanders."

"It's okay if he does—they're friendly, they actually make good pets. But Seth already has his devil cat, so don't tell him that part." Vanessa dropped her sunglasses back down.

Kendra smoothed out her towel, but after a few hours stuck in the car to get out to this remote beach, she wanted to move around. She shuffled around the sand a bit, collecting shiny seashells for Elise's art projects and some smooth stones for Mara's collection. They'd appreciate it the next time they saw her. Kendra built a tiny sandcastle, but without any water, it fell apart, so she gave that up. Eventually she just laid back down and relaxed.

" _Angelita_ ," Vanessa called over. The blix's already dark skin had tanned even further, even with only a half hour of sun. "You want to take a walk down the beach? You look a bit restless."

Kendra sat up. "That would be nice... yeah. We've been sitting in the car for a while, my legs are still stiff."

"Let's go, then," Vanessa said. She picked herself off her beach towel and grabbed her shorts. "Tanu, you coming?"

Tanu looked up from sorting his potions—his way of taking a break from the grill. "I think I'll hang out here," he said. "That way Warren and Seth won't freak out that we're all gone."

Vanessa shrugged. "That's fair. Just hustle on out if you change your mind."

The sand felt warm under Kendra's feet as she walked. The waves were crashing against the shore, and in the distance, she could hear Seth and Warren laughing and splashing around, but it faded more and more as they went.

"How about we check out the cliffs up there?" Vanessa asked, breaking the comfortable silence. Kendra looked out to the distant hulking rock and gave a nod of agreement.

The walk was long but peaceful. The cliffs drew ever closer, but they still were near the water. Up ahead in the distance, a small dock reached into the water, with a lone boat bobbing at the end of its rope and a small figure bustling around it. High tide was approaching, sending waves splashing up farther and farther until water was splashing Kendra's toes and the base of the cliff.

She looked up. Dark stone stretched up to a dizzying height, dotted with white barnacles like stars in a dark sky.

"Wow," Kendra breathed.

" _Wow_ is definitely the word. Kendra, check this out."

Kendra looked back down and steadied herself from the sudden change in perspective. Vanessa was several yards away, peering into a roughly hewn cave in the cliff.

"A cave? Did people live here once?" Kendra asked, walking over and joining her. The cave continued straight on until it faded to darkness.

"Maybe," Vanessa mused. "Could've been animals, but I don't see too many claw marks. Maybe tamed animals, or the marks could've worn away."

"I think there are markings down there—" Kendra stepped into the cave and gagged. It smelt terrible, like the sour smell of brine in the sun.

Vanessa crinkled her nose and flipped up her sunglasses. "This is nasty," she mumbled.

"Ew. Yeah." Kendra stepped outside for a moment and sucked in fresh air before delving back into the cave. "If something was here, I don't think they've been here for a while. They wouldn't be able to handle the smell."

"I don't know." Vanessa had pinched her nose shut, giving her voice a nasally quality. "Warren handles the smell of his room pretty well."

Both girls giggled and stepped into the darkness.

Kendra had been right, nothing had been here for a long time. Even the barnacles that dotted the outside of the cliff were missing. The sand under their feet gave way to rough stone, and the stench only got worse as they went.

"Kendra?" The teenager looked over her shoulder, where Vanessa was stumbling forward. "I can't see. Where are you?"

"Right here." Kendra reached out and took her hand. "Just follow me."

"Tell me if something changes."

Kendra gave a quick nod before realizing that Vanessa wouldn't see that, and voiced her agreement instead.

There was a lot of Vanessa crashing into walls and cursing as the tunnel thinned, but it wasn't too long before they reached the end. The hall widened out into a small room. Vanessa growled another curse when she bumped her head on the rocky ceiling, but she steadied herself with Kendra's help.

"Something changed," Kendra said.

"Yay. Where are we now?"

"It's a room." Kendra scanned her surroundings. "There are... paintings on the walls." She drifted forward, studying the caveman-like markings.

"Hey, hey, don't let go of my hand. C'mon. I still am blind here."

"Sorry!" Kendra said. "Just—let me—" She spread her palms, and a soft glow lit up the room and cast a bluish sheen on the walls.

Vanessa blinked and shielded her eyes, but she quickly adjusted and lowered her hand. "Thanks. How long can you keep that up?"

"Maybe twenty minutes. It's kinda tiring, to be honest." Kendra felt her cheeks burn. The magic was so simple, yet she was only a beginner and could barely handle that much.

Vanessa didn't seem to notice and moved to inspect the walls. Now that Kendra took a good look, she could see crudely painted depictions of people riding... seals? Manatees? There was definitely some sort of magic shown, the people had four arms and the creatures they rode were bigger and more oddly shaped than any animal Kendra could think of.

"Old natives," Vanessa said. "Probably moved or died out. Polymelias, I think? Riding hippocampi."

Kendra slowly walked along the wall, carefully making sure not to touch the pictures or smudge them. Many of the drawn Polymelias held spears or knives in their upper hands, while their lower hands held the reins of their steeds. She traced her way along their line of vision until she found their adversary...

Oh no.

A three headed snake thrashed around in a painted sea, each maw gaping wide to show dozens of poorly drawn teeth. Polymelias floated in the water around it, either dead or drowning.

Kendra's shock was so bad that the light in her hands flickered and went out. She didn't even realize it until Vanessa yelled "Hey, what's going on?"

"Sorry!" Her hands shook, but the light flared again. "Oh god. Look. Do you think this thing is still here?"

Vanessa's expression morphed into one of worry. "That's definitely no water salamander," she muttered drily. "Most likely. Let's warn the others."

There was no cell service in the cave, of course. It took time to run to the front of the cave, and between that and summoning her glow, Kendra felt exhausted. She kept going anyways. Some things were more important than the burn in her legs.

The two burst into the sunlight. Kendra shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness, but Vanessa didn't hesitate in whipping out her phone to try again.

"Warren?" she barked. "Warren, where are you?" She paused, listened, and shook her phone. "You're breaking up. Where are you? ...What? No! Get out of the water, dumbass!" Vanessa cursed again and dropped the phone from her ear. "He got cut off. He and Seth had a contest on who can swim out farther, and I don't think he got my message to leave."

Kendra's hands involuntarily went to her mouth. _Oh, god, no_. She had to get out there and get them, Seth and Warren were two of the most important people in her life.

"We can get back to the beach in thirty minutes if we run back—"

"No." Vanessa caught Kendra's arm before she could start sprinting. Her gaze drifted to the dock and its lone occupant. "I have a faster idea."

—

Still treading water, Warren tried to call Vanessa again. He was surprised she had even managed to get a call out with the cruddy service. He sighed, brushed the water off his screen (thank goodness for water-proofing charms), and shoved the phone back into his bathing suit pocket.

"What's up?" Seth was still several yards ahead. Warren wouldn't admit it to him, but he was letting his little cousin win.

"I'm not sure." Warren looked back to the beach, but it was just a strip of white sand and distant grass. "Something's definitely wrong, though. We should head back."

Seth gasped and splashed around for a moment. "You're just trying to get ahead of me!"

"Seriously, I'm not," Warren said. "C'mon. I'm sure Tanu's gotten the grill to work by now, anyways."

Seth shot him one last suspicious look, but his expression melted when he saw Warren's face. "Okay. Let's go."

Warren was about to start paddling back when suddenly the water got cold. Very cold. Icy shivers ran down his back.

"Oh my god," Warren gasped, struggling to keep his focus. "Seth, we need to go. Let's g—"

A moment later all he could see was water, and all he could feel was the pressure on his lungs.

—

"Two hundred."

"I'm tellin' ya, she's not for rent!"

Kendra had a strong urge to punch the fisherman in the face and just take his boat, but Vanessa seemed to have faith in her bargaining skills. "Four hundred, just for the hour."

"I'm not lettin' some random woman take my baby!" the man snarled. He was stout, with skin darkened and wrinkled from time at sea. "Especially not when ya won't tell me what it's for."

"Okay, whatever." Quick as a whip, Vanessa snatched a dart out of her shorts pocket and jabbed the man in the arm. He promptly crumbled into a heap on the deck.

"Um." Kendra put up a hand. "Not that I'm arguing, but isn't he going to call the cops on us?"

"That one's got some of Tanu's forgetting potion in it." Vanessa hopped into the tiny fishing boat and reached out a hand to help Kendra. "As long as we bring this thing back in one piece, we should be fine."

"I'm good with that. You know how to drive this thing?" Kendra took the offered hand and jumped in.

"Yeah." Vanessa poked at the central console, then started messing around with it in a hopefully purposeful way. "Picked it up."

"Picked it up—?" Kendra stopped herself. Society training. Vanessa had a lot of skills from Society training.

A second later the engine roared to life, and the boat jumped away from the dock. Kendra grasped the side of the boat. Vanessa looked tall and queen-like at her place at the wheel, her hair streaming behind her like a ribbon.

"The beach was that way." Vanessa spun the wheel, and everything leaned left. "How far out do you think they got?"

Kendra's mind bounced to her and Seth swimming in the pool, and tried to measure how much time had passed since Seth and Warren had gone out. An hour? An hour and a half? "Maybe a mile, probably a bit more."

"Gotcha."

It felt like forever, but maybe it was just Kendra's own mind messing with her. Finally, though, she could see two spots in the water—no, one. Now it was one. Hadn't there been two a second ago?

The boat puttered to a stop, and Kendra reached over the side. "Seth!"

"Oh my god!" Seth grabbed her hand, and the two of them tumbled onto the boat. "Warren! Warren's gone!"

"You're freezing!"

"Cold water! Warren's gone!"

"How long has he been down?" barked Vanessa.

"I don't know! Maybe twenty seconds?"

"You two stay up here." Before either of them could protest, Vanessa folded her hands and flawlessly dived off the side of the boat.

There was a beat of silence before the kids turned on each other.

"What's going on?"

"What is that thing?"

"Why did you two think swimming out here was a good idea—"

"How'd you know to get us—"

"Why's the water cold—"

"Where'd you get the boat—"

"Incoming!" There was a splash, and Warren crashed onto the deck, gasping like a fish and shaking off mucky yellow goop.

"Ew!" Both Sorenson siblings lunged back.

Vanessa scrambled over the side, one arm dripping with the same slime. "Ice snake!" she wheezed. She staggered to the controls, and the engine buzzed again.

There was an irritated shriek, and the thing burst out of the water. The painting had done it justice—the white and blue scales and the three heads were all the same, but the eyes were a lot more piercing and it definitely had a lot more teeth. It shrieked again, and everyone clapped their hands over their ears.

"Screw off!" Seth yelled at it.

The thing seemed to hesitate, surprised, before the middle head hawked and spat yellow goop all over the deck and its occupants.

"Gross," muttered Warren, still barely conscious.

The boat roared to life and sped away. Kendra staggered and grabbed the deck, trying not to slip.

"So much for a relaxing day," she mumbled.

—

It took a while to clean the deck. No one wanted to do it, but they had no choice, it was that or let the fisherman know his boat had been stolen. Vanessa, Seth, and Kendra spent about an hour chucking goop over the side while Warren sat on the dock and weakly coughed up water droplets. Once they were done, they propped the fisherman up at the controls and left him a couple of twenties for his troubles.

When they finally trekked back to their spot on the beach, Tanu was sitting on his towel, glumly pushing the sand with his feet. The grill sat a few feet away in several charred pieces. The potion master looked up when they approached.

"Where have you guys been?" he asked. "Um... what happened to you guys? Does anyone need healing?"

"We're all good." Warren sat down heavily next to Tanu. "It's a pretty long story. What happened to the grill?"

Tanu sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "It still wouldn't light, and I had already checked everything... so I kind of figured I'd... use a few fire fairy tears?" He ducked his head. "It's a pretty common potion ingredient, but I guess I miscalculated how potent it would be in this situation."

"I don't think anyone's had a good day today," sighed Kendra, sitting down in the sand. Seth agreed with a mumble and collapsed as well.

"Yeah." Vanessa stretched. "I think we've fulfilled the whole 'reconnaissance' thing. Let's head home."


End file.
